‘Trump’s UNGA speech’

This is apropos two back-to-back letters to the Editor from this writer carried by the newspaper on Tuesday and yesterday. Nor did Trump stop at Gaza or climate change. He derided the United Nations as useless, ineffective, and irrelevant. He promised to pull U.S. representatives out of key agencies, and he vowed to slash funding—funding that, for decades, Washington had leveraged as its ultimate instrument of control. But instead of weakening the UN, Trump’s threat spurred others into action.

Within hours, China, the European Union, and several emerging economies pledged to fill the financial gap, signaling that they would seize the leadership America was relinquishing. It was a symbolic passing of the torch: power, influence, and responsibility were no longer to be monopolized by Washington.

For Trump, the United States remained the indispensable nation. He warned that no country could survive without its blessing, invoking America’s military might and economic reach. Yet his words rang hollow against the backdrop of near-total isolation.

In the past, weaker nations might have bowed to U.S. pressure, clinging to trade deals or fearing the loss of aid. But now, emboldened by collective strength, they no longer needed to. The unifying cause of Palestine’s recognition had given the world a new confidence. America’s threats sounded less like the dictates of a superpower and more like the frustrated cries of a bully whose grip was slipping.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025